Aeval

[malanna]

A raven-haired Fairy Queen of Ireland. One of her eternal duties dictates that she must hold a midnight court every season and hear the pleas of married Irishwomen. The court serves only to determine whether or not husbands are adequately serving their wife’s sexual needs. A judicious yet powerfully sensual blend, a mingling of justice and sexuality: sage, sweet pea, bold pale musk and warm tonka.

This is rather odd, but I get a hint of creamy sunblock from this scent, with lush, creamy florals in the background. This makes me think of Pele, another creamy floral scent, which made me conclude that there was plumeria in this. Apparently I was wrong. Looking at the notes list, the sweet pea doesn't smell like it has in other scents--it's not watery, yet slightly sweet and green. It's just lush and sweet here. I guess there's a slightly herbal scent, especially at the beginning, which I could attribute to sage. Also, it must be the musk that's making Aeval so creamy. I still think it smells like sunblock (mostly in the beginning, though).

[Savannah]

Vial: Ooh, sweet tonka, and some sort of flower. Sweet pea, I assume.

 

On: SASSAFRAS! Holy mother of root beer. Seriously, that's some strong, green, fresh-cut sassafras.

 

Er, wait. Sassafras?

 

I have no idea where that's coming from. Waiting for it to go away now. Reading reviews to see if anyone else got sassafras. Hmm. No. I am officially insane.

 

Drydown: The sassafras faded . Now it smells like sunblock. Floral-y sunblock. Guh. Definitely not for me. I just want to know where the tonka from the vial went. :-(

[ohm]

It smelled luscious (sweet and beautiful) in the bottle, but turned into a faint herbal scent that I wasn't expecting. I'm so sad :/ I really wanted it to work out, and it just didn't. It's too faint, much too faint.

[sophia_helix]

In the bottle:

 

Not getting much to go on just sniffing it. Floral (I assume sweet pea), a little something else that's different enough to stand out, but not enough for me to identify it (sage? I have no idea what tonka bean smells like).

 

Wet:

 

More sweetness, definitely sweet pea. A little sage, maybe.

 

Drydown:

 

Within five minutes, utter and complete soap. I mean, NICE soap, but still, soap. I stuck my wrist in front of my sister, and she said "Cherry soap?" My mom said "Honeysuckle soap?" Etc.

 

::bangs head::

 

I don't think it's the sage, since Bewitched works on me (though the blackberry overwhelms sage in that blend). Maybe sweet pea? Beats me.

 

Of course, the REALLY irritating thing is that my mom tried it and got instant, delicious sweet pea, and nothing but, because florals love her. Bitch.

[tinyvulture]

i’ve always found sweet pea kind of bland, so i think that’s why i’m not a fan of this one. however, the sage does add an interesting element. it’s very clean, herbal, a good scent for spending a sunny spring day in the garden.

[Brianne]

In the bottle:

Can definitely smell that sweet pea!

 

On me:

This is a fairly simple scent in my opinion, but in a good way. It makes me think of baby oil a bit, and smells to me like someone does when they first step out of the shower - like clean, fresh skin with the faint remnants of soap and powder. It's warm, but still lightly floral and feminine. The sage brings that sweet pea down a notch, but this still remains pleasantly sweet and light.

 

Final note:

I don't think I'd buy a bottle of this, it's a little too light for me, but I will definitely wear this when I want to feel fresh and clean and light

[theseagrows]

i think sage and i dont agree, because this was very strong and herbal on me and too pungent so i had to wash it off. i love the other 3 ingredients though, so maybe if it didnt have sage, it would have worked better on me

 

it's too bad, it sounds like it's a beautiful scent on some people.

[rhubarbbear]

i get a fairly true sweet pea scent from aeval. it's lovely and light and springy. i have, however, discovered that i just don't reach for the lovely light springy florals- even in spring. nothing against aeval, tho, it's really VERY pretty!

[lannansidhe]

Okay, I really love Aeval. It starts out floral, very sweet pea, this is good for me, because lots of florals bother my allergies. Then the sage kicks in. I do have to reapply every four hours or so, but ALL perfumes are that way on me as I have very dry skin. At about the two hour mark, the floral is mostly gone and only the lovely light musk is left. To me, that makes it the perfect daytime scent because I can layer Hetairae or Bastet over it for evening and night!

Aeval is my first BPAL love, even though I also have been having a thing for Black Pearl. I think Aeval will remain my everyday scent for a long time. For any and all of you who don't like it, PM me!!

[synique]

Aeval starts out a very green light musk - the sage, I'm guessing, and as it dries down becomes a lovely creamy light musk, with a wee touch of a floral. Itty bitty wee - so not very floral, but just a whisper.

 

This is reminiscent of the Body Shop's White Musk, but with more depth. Lovely!

 

And Mr. Syn loves to wear this one as well!

[Dustbunnyxox]

From the bottle: mmm. very nice. This one is incredibly powdery, but it works. the sweet pea is nice in it. not too strong.

 

On me: wow. the sweet pea is VERY sweet. and this went very powdery. a little too much.

 

Two hours later: ok. only wore this one for 30 minutes. waaaay too powdery. it went terrible on me.

[dreadeddragon]

In the bottle: This is a very green scent. Like grass & little flowers in a meadow.

 

First on: Like synique, this becomes a creamy musk on me. I can still smell the floral grasses, but musk has come up to the front. It's not a scent I would normally give a second thought to, but I really like it.

 

Drydown: This is a pale creamy green scent now, almost like a pastel green. It's a light musk, with the grassy scents in the back. It's very clean, yet not crisp at all. I do really like it, but I rarely wear clean scents, so I'll have to cull the imps and find out which ones I have that I like the best.

[ashlle]

Sniff: Warm greens.

 

On me: slightly spicy, green and warm. I'm guessing the sage? I love the hint of sweet pea. As this dries, it settles down to a nice musk. It's a comfortable scent - fresh but not bright. It lasts all day without being overwhelming at any point. Overall, a very enjoyable scent - I like it!

[olympia301]

 

Very white flower smelling to me nearly overpowering florals with a very appealing greenlike skin drydown. Aeval is strong indeed and enchanting, it's almost narcotic. Even though the ingredients don't list the usual white flower suspects, if you like the strong and deep florals get hold of Aeval because I am sure it's going to be a winner with you.

[coulrophobe]

I was really interested in this blend, and loved the description - and found the notes to be an intriguing prospect, as they weren't things I thought of as going together (but that's why Beth's the artist, and not me!).

 

Wet on my skin, I'm a little worried. The sage and sweet pea are duking it out, and the musk and tonka are hiding somewhere in the background... I can't smell anything except for an overpoweringly sweet herbal smell.

 

When Aeval dries down, the sweet pea seems to be dominant, but with a little herbal kick to it. I'm still not getting much besides a vague feeling of "warmth" from the musk and tonka... I'm finding it odd that I can't distinguish the musk more, as it's one of my favorite notes and usually jumps right out at me.

[vyvyan]

This perfume comes out "separate but equal" on me. On the one side of the fence, we have the sage/sweet pea, creating a very pretty, soft "light green" blend; on the other, there's the tonka. They don't mix, they don't mingle, they just kind of - sit there. Also, now that I know tonka to identify it, I'm not a fan.

 

Not for me, alas. But it's already off to someone who will love it more!

[Little Bird]

Aeval starts out very dry and herbal on me, I think because of the sage. Then the sweet pea comes out and this is light, bland, and floral. The tonka is adding an almost vanilla smoothness to it all.

 

It's reminding me of one of my first self tanners. They used a bad floral smell to try to mask the evil self tanner chemical smell. It ended up smelling like wet dog... dog washed with a floral soap.

 

I guess that's pretty much what Aeval smells like on me: wet dog and floral soap.

[sideviewhotel]

Urgh. I am not sure what I think of Aeval yet. I've just put it on, and it's VERY sweet and sticky. It smells like floral soap. Rather strong floral soap.

 

I think that's the sweet pea. Woe. I'm disappointed, but only slightly, as I purchased this imp based on the description only. Maybe it'll calm down in a little while and if it does, I will come back to edit my post.

 

Otherwise? Off to the swap pile with you!

 

Edit about 2 1/2 hours later: I keep smelling this musky smell and I get confused because I have candles burning but they are blueberry muffin, unscented and something else that is so lightly scented that I have no idea what it is beyond flowery (rose, maybe?). And, I sniff at my wrists, but when I do that, all I get is sweet pea (yes, still!). So, only after a few hours and at a distance, do I smell something other than sweet pea from Aeval.

 

Unfortunately, as much as I like the wafting scent, I don't like how my skin amplifies the sweet pea. Maybe if I only used a small amount, it would be a bit better (I admit, I'm a big slatherer. It's a fault, I guess.), but I'm still not all that keen on it. Perhaps I'll give it one more go (a lightly applied one, that is) before I decide whether to really let it go or not.

Edited September 5, 2005 by sideviewhotel

[Lycanthrope]

Wow. This isn't what I expected from the description - it comes out and stays on me a pure sage from the get-go to the last whiffs of this Fae Queen.

 

In the bottle, it's a grassy, slightly astringent aroma, which I didn't place at first as sage, but my, is it! On me, the sage amps up a touch and overwhelms all the rest of the fragrance and it takes quite some time for it to even become remotely obedient. There's a slight sweet, pungent floral twist which may be the sweet pea, but I detect very little tonka. It doesn't have that same tonkaness (word?) that I love in Sybaris. It's too sweet, and stays sagey on me to the end.

 

Swap!

[AlaskaSnows]

In bottle: to me this smells nothing like the description and I can detect sage at 100 paces. I smell amber, light white flowers, and musk.

 

Dry: NOW I smell the sage. A Big smudge stick of sage standing in the middle of a ring of little wildflowers, with some musk floating on the air.

 

Quite nice!!

[AngelFireHeart]

Aeval - Out of the bottle this is quite sweet with a bitter edge. It’s a little bit violet-y , sweet herby smell. It’s rather like the scent of walking through a meadow with moss underfoot, & many, many different florals all around. You can almost smell bees making honey. Unfortunately this is another scent that starts to go quite powdery on me.

[Miss Lynx]

This has to go down in history as my shorted BPAL trial ever. I put some on right before going out the door with my partner, and it was startlingly, aggressively sweet -- not at all what it smelled like in the vial. As soon as I got within five feet of her, she backed away, saying "Oh my god -- what is that? It's awful!"

 

"Um... It's Aeval. You know, the one you said you thought you were going to like from sniffing the imp?"

 

"Please, please get it away from me! I think I'm getting a headache already."

 

So I ran to the washroom and washed it off. But too late -- she did indeed end up with a splitting headache for most of the rest of the evening.

 

In the brief impression I had of it before I washed it off, it did seem killer-sweet -- I think the sweet pea in it rose up and obliterated the sage and musk and everything else. It was kind of Death By Floral. It might have eventually dried down to something pleasant, but I've run into far too many scents like that lately, and I really don't want to keep something around that'll kill my partner. Into the swap pile it goes.

 

Grade: D

[lookingglass]

Revisting Aeval here over 3 years later and she will be my new Spring scent. I can appreciate the green sage beginning drying down to a less sweet interpretation of Mouse's Long Sad Tale with more musk (must be the sweet pea/tonka that reads a bit like amber to my nose). It is almost fruity and is a big sister to Fae, I think. DH says it smells like a clean, nice, hotel. I think I'll just smack him!

Edited January 28, 2009 by lookingglass

[melrose]

Aeval:

 

In imp: This is what Fairyland must smell like! I see a very old garden hedge at night full of twinkling lights - this is Beth's genius - I didn't even know Fairyland had a smell until I opened this imp.

 

Unfortunately, my skin ate up the magic, leaving only household cleaning products and soap.

 

I so envy those of you who wear these oils and have them stay true to the scent in the imp.

[Firewaver]

This is such a fresh, clean scent.. crisp and slightly sharp and tangy, even!

 

I smell freshly cut lawns in faeryland. It smells like grass clippings and light florals, tinged with a sparkle of magic and mist. This would be great to wear with a faery costume for halloween. Airy and light, but not sweet.

 

It does get a tad soapy dried down, but it retains it's freshness. It's very bright and cheery, and I like it for what it is. It isn't "me" per se, but it is someone, and that person is quite lucky.